Category: Turkey Tracks: My Life in Maine

Our Life in Maine, My Craft Projects, Quilting, Recipes, Book and Media Reviews

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie October 2018 Show and Tell

Turkey Tracks:  October 30, 2018

Mt. Battie October 2018 Show and Tell

Roxanne Wells visited our meeting and brought a quilt to show:  “Screech.”

Oh my.  How glorious is this quilt?  But Roxanne’s quilts always are…glorious works of art.  She used machine decorative stitches extensively in this one, which inspired us all.  Thanks, Roxanne, for sharing.

Becca Babb-Brott has finished this big hexie quilt for her daughter.  We are holding it sideways to keep it off the floor.  I like the puce green binding too.  This one will be snuggly for a long, long time, which is it’s purpose.

Becca quilted very loosely—going around the big blocks and putting two stripes down the center of each.  I should have taken a picture of the back, as the quilting pattern looks really nice there.

Linda Satkowski bright her hand-made hexie flower quilt top to share.  We saw it in progress some time back, but here it is all done.  We will look forward to seeing it totally completed.  What a fantastic quilt!

 

A number of Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks quilts also came to the meeting.  They are in a separate post.

Turkey Tracks: Another Knit Top

Turkey Tracks:  October 28, 2018

Another Knit Top

I am really loving the three knit tops I’ve made from Simplicity 8529.  I finished this last one the other day.  It and one other are Cortton+Steel knits.  The third is a fleece top, pictured below.

I like that there are side slits and that the back is longer than the front.  The collar has a self-facing.  It’s easy to put a  t-shirt underneath it for more warmth.

I cut out this navy one last summer, but only just slowed down to sew it.  I have three other garments cut out, but have gotten a bit side-tracked with quilty projects.

 

 

Here’s the fleece top.  I put it on two days ago and stil have not changed it out for some other clothing.  One reason is the totally yummy pants I got from LLBean.  They are so soft—a cotton/stretch mixture.  They are kind of like a sweatshirt fabric, but are plain on the inside.

 

Turkey Tracks: Yummy Soup!

Turkey Tracks:  October 27, 2018

Yummy Soup!

I roasted a chicken the other day.

Roasted chicken always means making soup broth.  With the Histamine Intolerance, I can’t make bone broths that cook for 24 hours any more—long cooking equals too much histamine in the food.  But I’ve been able to make a quick broth with the bones and carcass that cooks about an hour.

I am so happy because I really love soup!

This soup is filled with local veggie goodies and two boneless chicken breasts cut into pieces.  I had some cooked kate to add, some peas from the spring pea crop I blanched and froze, carrots, red peppers, leeks, cauliflower, the tiny last baby zucchini from my garden, and fresh garlic.  These veggies all cook really quickly after being sweated for a bit in the pan to add more flavor.

I added some rice noodles that I cooked separately in the bottom of my soup bowl.

Yes, a yummy soup dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day.

Turkey Tracks: This One’s Ready to Sew Together

Turkey Tracks:  October 27, 2018

This One’s Ready to Sew Together

This scrappy quilt is my own design.  I’ve been working on it for some time now.  I bought the sashing material from Becca Babb-Brott at least three or four years ago.  (Becca has the Etsy store, Sew Me A Song.)

The 4 1/2-inch block centers are “made” fabric from my smaller scraps.  Both Bonnie Hunter and Victoria Findlay Wolfe “make” fabric in this way.  Along the way I began adding in some novelty fabrics to sprinkle throughout the quilt.

I used the Companion Angle ruler to cut the flying geese—but in a novel way to get the top flat edge—which I learned from Bonnie Hunter while making one of her mystery quilts—the Italian-inspired one I think, Allietore.  I used the Easy Angle ruler for the flying geese small triangles.  And all pieces were cut from 2-inch strips.

 

I’ve got the cutest backing for this quilt, and I can’t wait to longarm quilt it.  That day is coming up fast now.  I’m not sure what I’ll use for binding yet.  I might use either the sashing or the backing fabric to bind.  The quilt has not told me what it wants yet.

 

Turkey Tracks: Vicki Fletcher’s Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilt is Done!

Turkey Tracks:  October 25, 2018

Vicki Fletcher’s Mt. Battie Modern Traveling Quilt is Done!

Wow!  Vicki’s Traveling Quilt—a project last year for the Mt. Battie Modern Quilit Guild—came out so pretty!

It’s the FIRST of these quilts to be finished.

To remind, those of us who took on this challenge started with one block.  We each made a little book or set of instructions telling everyone what we liked and disliked.  Then, as each of us got the developing quilt, we added to it, using the original information and what other people had done.  Gradually, the quilts began to come together along their journey.  There were eight of us, and the project took about 18 months.

Here’s a closer view:

Stacy Hallowell at Mainely Sewing, owned by Marge Hallowello, quilted the quilt.  I really like the choice of the Bishop’s Fan for this veryl modern quilt.

The backing choice is awesome!  And the royal blue binding is just perfect.

Vicki also just finished this quilt for a family member.  We held it sideways so it would not get dirty.

Stacyl quilted this one, too.  Love the circles!

And look at this great backing!  It’s perfect for this quilt.

GO VICKI!!

Turkey Tracks: Becca-Babb Brott’s Latest Quilts

Turkey Tracks:  October 16, 2018

Becca Babb-Brott’s Latest Quilts

Becca’s “Long Time gone” quilt top, designed by Jen Kingwell, is done.  This quilt was a challenge in our Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild.  Note that Becca used a variety of neutral strips to piece her blocks together.  She is not going to add a border.

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Becca took an improv piecing class with Denyce Schmidt this past summer at Alewives Quilt Shop in Damariscotta Mills, Maine.  The quilt top emerged the other day—all finished.  It’s colorful and fun, and Becca really enjoyed the process she learned.  Denyce Schmidt’s web site is as follows:  http://dsquilts.com/

I am really intrigued by quilts made with the gorgeous solids on the market these days.  There is one in my future for sure.

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Turkey Tracks: Yummy Dinner 2

Yummy Dinner 2

SIL Maryann Enright visited this past weekend.  We had grilled lamb chops for dinner Friday night.  It poured rain Saturday, so we settled for an inside easy meal:  creamed fresh haddock–local and so fresh–with vegetables and rice.

We also saw some sweet peas at the Belfast Coop, so we picked up a few handfuls.

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This meal is so easy and so delicious and cooks in about 25 minutes.

Lay fish in a flat pan with sides:  I use a pyrex glass pan.

Salt the fish.  Add whatever veggies you have on hand or buy.  In season ripe tomatoes are yummy with this meal.  I can’t eat them though.  I had some leftover sautéed chard from last night’s dinner, so scattered that about.  Then I added some THINLY SLICED onion, red pepper, tiny baby zucchini, and carrots.  Slice thin to cook fast, especially with firm veggies like the carrot.

Salt more and scatter lots of herbs over everything–fresh if you can, dried if you can’t but not so much as you would fresh herbs.

Then, the magic, spread LOTS of raw heavy cream over the layers.  I used about 1 1/2 cups.  The fish will make a sauce with the cream.  You could add a dollop of white wine if you like.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven.

Serve in a kind of bowl plate so you can add lots of the sauce.

Leftovers are delicious gently reheated in an oven.

PS:  you can do a similar casserole with chicken.  Lay raw rice on the bottom of a thick pan you can cover.  Lay boneless chicken cut into pieces over the rice.  Add in whatever veggies, cheese, and herbs you might like.  These veggies can be a thicker cut as the dish will cook longer.  Add the cream and a little more liquid as you have to have enough to cook the rice.  Bake longer–more like 40 or so minutes.  See if rice is cooked through.

Or cook rice separately, use the cut up boneless chicken, and keep veggies sliced thin for a quicker cook time.

I have used whole, bone-in pieces of chicken, too.  That would have a 45 minute or so cook time.

Enjoy!

Turkey Tracks: Another Lark Knit Shirt

Turkey Tracks:  October 11, 2018

Another Lark Knit Shirt

Sue Kandziolka gave me this knit fabric last spring.  It will go with so many of my clothes, including the soft red knit jacket I made last spring.  I used the Grainline Lark Knit shirt pattern and cut out the shirt last June.  I then got “summer busy” and didn’t get back to actually making the shirt until last weekend.

I did remember how to use the serger, and it didn’t take long to sew up the shirt.  I have set up my Janome 6600 next to the serger and put in a ball point knit needle, so I can just go back and forth without having to change eveything on my big Janome 8900.  (The Janome 6600 is an excellent workhorse of a machine.  I’ve had mine for 15 years now and still love it.). I have a sweat shop organized for winter sewing!

 

 

The Lark is very long, so tucks in beautifully.  Or, hangs out beautifully.

I put on the shirt right away—it’s so soft.

Thanks Sue K. For this gift.

On to the next!

Turkey Tracks: Yummy Dinner

Turkey Tracks:  October 9, 2018

Yummy Dinner!

Everything on this plate is local food.  And organic.

Grilled lamb chops (I get a whole lamb each fall and eat it from nose to tail), beets, fall spinach sauteed in butter and garlic, late summer cantalope—all from Hope’s Edge CSA.  The boiled fingerling potatoes swiming in butter are in our local markets now as well.  I look forward to them every fall.

A friend asked me to take a look at the food documentary THE MAGIC PILL.  It’s excellent and features many of my food heroes.  I highly recommend it.  You can get it on Netflix, Amazon, or UTube.  It’s well worth taking some time to watch.  I’ve been eating this way for many years now and have never been healthier, even in spite of the Histamine Intolerance issue, which I believe to be genetically acquired from my dad.